Through a highly competitive application process, Jennifer Maeverde, M.A., LCPC, from the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (ME UCEDD), has been selected for the 2022-2023 Health Leadership Development course sponsored by the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership in Portland, ME.

On September 9 and 10, the NH-ME LEND Program welcomed the 2023 cohort! LEND faculty members from UNH, Dartmouth, and the University of Maine gathered with 19 trainees to participate in a meet and greet, followed by an afternoon of team building at the UNH Browne Center. Trainees and faculty continued their work on Saturday at the Leadership "Boost"-a full-day introductory session on leadership through a LEND lens. NH-ME LEND is pleased to welcome two new CHHS faculty members this year" Meg Morgan (Communication Sciences and Disorders) and Sarah Smith (Occupational Therapy). For a complete listing of NH-ME LEND faculty, please visit https://iod.unh.edu/nh-me-lend/people

Project TAPP-Teaching, Autism, and Practitioner Preparation.Our team provides a series of workshops, followed by 3 months of follow-up support, to paraprofessional and teacher teams working with students with autism in Texas.During follow up, we provide check-ins, resources related to the workshops, and individualized support based on need.

Dr. DeMetra Bates, Executive Housing Director, The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies (IDS), has recently completed the Year 2 of the 36th annual Community Development Institute (CDI) at the University of Central Arkansas on August 5, 2022. Dr. Demetra Bates was selected as a scholarship recipient for the Community Development Institute for the second consecutive year in June 2022.

We have moved away from using many words with harmful and oppressive connotations over the past couple of decades, but why has knowledge, understanding, and change of ableist language remained limited?

Ashley Salmon, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Research Associate at the Center for Leadership in Disability at the School of Public Health has been awarded the 2022 Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Award.

Milena Bates (MN LEND 2021-22), co-founder of the Minnesota Autistic Alliance, is recruiting self-advocates for new projects supported by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Cultivate, a 10-hour online self-advocacy course covering how to identify needs, navigate barriers, and understand intersectionality (among other topics), begins August 23. It is designed for and by neurodivergent self-advocates. Lattice is a partnering program that will connect a team of three partners best suited to the support needs of a self-advocate. The group also is recruiting writers for an accessible, digital resource database.

Wyoming Institute for Disabilities speech-language pathologist has won the Bright Star Award for Distinguished Educators, presented by the Wyoming Governor's Council on Developmental Disability.

The NH-ME LEND Program celebrated its 30th anniversary by creating a 7-minute captioned video that features LEND trainees, alumni, and staff reflecting on what LEND means to them and the impact it has had on their lives. The video was produced by the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability/UCED.

The Maine LEND graduated 12 Trainees from the program in May 2022. As part of demonstrations of Maternal and Child Health Competencies and LEND tenets, the Trainees each participated in an elective project that was presented at the end of April.